


Baby we're fireproof

by Karin1232



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: AU, Burns, Fire, Firefighter Liam, Hurt Louis, Hurt Niall, Hurt/Comfort, Louis-centric, M/M, Niall-centric, firefighter zayn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2019-05-26 21:56:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15010274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Karin1232/pseuds/Karin1232
Summary: Niall used all his strength and gave his friend, who had fallen to his knees right next to him, a weak push, silently telling him to move on but like before Louis refused to listen.“Forget it,” he hissed through gritted teeth as a fresh round of coughing attacked him.Louis could literally feel the fire on his skin now coming closer and closer with every second that passed. The smoke was filling his lungs, making it hard to breath but Louis instincts kicked in again.He witnessed Niall wither away from him, seeing his eyes roll ack into his head, his body going slack.“No, no, Niall!” Louis yelled, shaking the boy by his shoulders without receiving an answer.OR the one whereLouis and Niall get trapped inside of a burning building, fighting for their lives. Firefighters Zayn and Liam, best friend Harry.





	Baby we're fireproof

**Author's Note:**

> Another day, another OneShot. Hope you like this one! 
> 
> Xx

Louis Tomlinson groaned when the beeping sound of an alarm clock woke him up on a Monday morning. He turned around, buried his head in his pillow, trying to block out the noise while Liam, who was lying next to him, turned the sound off.

“Good morning babe,” the younger male whispered, his voice still thick with sleep, as he moved over and placed a soft kiss on his boyfriends’ hair.

“What time is it?” Louis questioned, his voice muffled by his face still pressed into the pillow.

“It’s 5.30,” Liam replied running his hand through Louis’ brown hair before sitting up in bed, stretching his sore limbs.

He got out of bed and made his way over to the bathroom, turning around to look at his boyfriend again. The older boy didn’t look like he was about to get up anytime soon and Liam definitely didn’t want to deal with having to wake his boyfriend up in a few minutes if he fell asleep again. He had done this quite a few times and Louis had never been friendly when it had come to this, being grumpy all morning.

“Come on boo,” Liam said as he walked back to Louis’ side of the bed, sitting down and shaking him by the shoulder. “You have to go to work as well.”

“Oh fuck off,” Louis mumbled, turning his head so that he was now looking at his lover with one eye cracked open.

“I love you too,” Liam grinned and placed a soft kiss to Louis’ cheek.

“I hate Mondays!”

“I know you do but we still have to go to work. Get up now, I’ll take a shower real quick!”

“Okay, okay,” Louis sighed, knowing that he needed to get up anyway or otherwise he was going to be late to work and he definitely didn’t want this to happen.

Liam smiled happily at him as he made his way over to the bathroom while Louis looked for something to wear.

*

Twenty minutes later both boys had showered and were sitting by the table in their kitchen, drinking some hot coffee – one of the most important things for Louis in the morning.

Liam and Louis had met each other five years ago at the birthday party of their friend Zayn. Louis had been first to lay eyes on the absolute stunning boy standing at the other side of the room and with Zayn playing wingman he had found himself having a chat with Liam only a little while later.

Both boys had gotten along easily, enjoying each other’s company a lot and so it had happened that strangers had turned into friends at first and then they had become lovers not long after that.

Liam and Louis were both hard-working young men. Liam was a firefighter while Louis was working as an employer at a real estate company. Even though Liam had to work some stupid shifts from time to time both boys still managed to make the best out of their time together.

Liam was what Louis always called the girl in their relationship. He wasn’t allowed to say it out loud because his lover would only get mad at him but Liam was a sensible guy who cried a little bit too often whenever they watched a romantic movie.

He did the cooking since Louis had yet to learn how to boil eggs properly and also did the washing because Louis had once washed their clothes and the white shirts had been pink afterwards since Louis hadn’t thought about separating the whites from the colorful clothes washing his red pants with Liam’s white shirts.

Even though they for sure had their disagreements from time to time they never really fought and if they had an argument it was forgotten minutes later.

*

“Let’s get going now,” Liam said and snapped his boyfriend out of his thoughts, startling him slightly.

“Why don’t we just call in sick and spend the day at home?” Louis whined, looking at his boyfriend with big, blue eyes, pouting his lips.

“Come on now lazy bum, we’re not going to do such thing!”

“Okay, mum,” Louis chuckled, pointing his tongue at his lover before following him to put his shoes and jacket on.

It was still early in the morning, the sun had just started to rise. It was chill outside for a day in early May and Louis was happy that he had decided to put on a light jacket today.

“I’m working until 7 tonight. Do you feel okay with ordering some food tonight?” Liam questioned as he started to car.

“Sounds good.”

They drove in silent except for Louis swearing from time to time when Liam had to hit the brakes. Driving through London wasn’t fun at all. There were so many people on bicycles, driving around rather reckless or pedestrians crossing the street at a red light because they simply didn’t have time to wait for another few seconds, risking their lives instead.

Liam was a calm driver, swearing under his breath but never doing more. He had stopped honking long time ago, knowing that it didn’t have an effect on people anyway. Louis on the other hand was the kind of person to roll down the window and curse at whoever had made him angry, pointing the finger at them.

He was definitely more likely to end up in a fight than Liam and since Louis’ work was closer to their house Liam was the one to drive whenever they started working at the same time.

“I’ll see you tonight babe. Have a good day,” Louis said once they arrived in front of the building Louis was working in.

“I love you,” Liam replied, turning over and kissing his boyfriend goodbye. “Give Nialler a big hug from me!”

“Love you too. I hope you don’t have too much stress today. Look out for yourself!”

“You know I will. See you tonight!”

Louis got out of the car at 6.34 in the morning. He didn’t start until 7 o’clock but driving with Liam was way more comfortable than taking the tube. Louis watched his boyfriend pull out of the parking lot and drive away, hating that feeling that appeared in his gut every single time Liam left for work.

Louis was always worried about his boyfriend working as a firefighter. He knew well enough that his lover was a hero for what he did but he actually got himself in danger all of the time. Luckily Liam had never been injured but some of his colleagues had been and whenever Liam told Louis about things like that it made Louis feel scared.

Liam definitely was the love of his life and he didn’t want to lose him.

*

“Good morning, Jolene,” Louis greeted the young girl at the reception of the building as he walked past, sliding his ID-Card through the card-holder, unlocking the door.

A lot of people were already walking into the building behind Louis and he greeted a lot more of them whilst waiting for one of the three elevators to arrive.

Louis was working in a rather large building. It consisted of ten floors, Louis working on the eight, having a nice view over London from the window in his office. It had never been his actual dream job but one day he had simply applied for it, needing a change from working at an Italian restaurant beforehand and luckily he had been offered a job.

Now, three years later, Louis was known as a good employer, having a really good time at the office.

It was around ten o’clock in the morning, it was quite loud and busy in the office today, when Louis decided to take a little break. He had been working non-stop for three hours now, finishing up some important paper work for his boss Mr. Cowell.

“Hey mate, I’m going to see if Niall’s here already,” he quickly told his colleague before getting up, stretching his limbs and walking over to the elevator.

Niall Horan was one of Louis’ and Liam’s best friends. He was working in the same building but for a different estate company on the fifth floor. He was originally from Ireland but had moved to England years ago. He was a loud, funny and carefree guy not bothering about what others had to say about him in the slightest.

Niall was also a good friend of Zayn and he had met Liam and Louis through the Pakistani boy. The four of them had bonded instantly, because it simply was impossible to not like Niall. The Irish boy had dragged his friend Harry into to group as well and so it had happened that the five of them had become really close friends.

The boys loved spending their time together, playing Fifa, partying, talking for hours. They all had different personalities with Louis being the funny one, Niall the carefree lad, Harry being the sweet innocent young boy who wouldn’t hurt a fly, Zayn being all mysterious and introvert but turning into this mischievous and loud boy whenever he was with his friends and Liam being like the daddy of their group always making sure that no laws were being broken and that everyone had enough to eat and drink.

Niall had to have surgery on his right knee three weeks ago, fixing a damage in his ligaments from years ago that had gotten worse. He was now not allowed to put a lot of pressure on his knee, wearing a brace and having to use crutches but Niall being Niall had begged his boss to let him come to work because he was bored of sitting at home.

He had had another check-up this morning and Louis needed to know if everything was fine since to boy hadn’t texted him yet.

The elevator made that annoying “ding” sound as it arrived and Louis quickly stepped in, pressing the button. Upon arriving at the fifth floor he made his way through the glass doors over to where Niall’s desk was.

Even from the door he could already see the blond hair and when he walked closer Niall spotted him instantly and a big smile appeared on his face.

“Tommo,” he said happily and held his arms open, Louis quickly pulling him into a hug, careful of the leg that was resting on another chair, a pack of ice on it.

“Hey there Nialler,” Louis greeted before eyeing Niall’s knee. “So how was the check-up?”

“Doc says it’s healing nicely. I have to ice it to reduce the swelling but other than that everything’s good. Three more weeks and then I’m allowed to start putting pressure on it. Therapy is getting more intense as well,” he explained and Louis nodded his head.

“Sounds good to me!”

Both boys continued to talk about whatever came to their minds, Niall asking Louis about his weekend, Louis questioning the Irish boy about his love life, both boys agreeing on the fact that they needed to meet up on the following weekend.

The talked for about fifteen more minutes when all of a sudden the fire alarm went off.

It was an annoying sound and everyone looked up from their desks surprised.

“Oh no,” Niall groaned as he looked at his leg. “Why do they have to do this today? You think I can sit this one out?”

Louis only chuckled as he watched everyone else slowly get out of their seats, putting their belongings into their bags, putting their jackets on.

It was quite a known fact that they had a secret fire alarm every few months but somehow no one really payed attention to it anymore. Their boss had once said that it was really important to react fast because what if it was a real alarm one day?

“I mean it, Tommo,” Niall said to his friend. “Once I made it downstairs we’ll already be allowed to go back in. Besides I really can’t walk down the stairs. I can’t bend my knee so how am I supposed to get down? The lifts don’t work during fire alarms.”

“I know but we’ll just take it slow. We have to at least show them that we were willing to get out,” Louis explained and quickly turned around when he heard people scream from the door.

“EVERYONE MOVE! THIS IS A REAL FIRE!!! GET OUT OF HERE!” someone yelled and instantly panic set in.

People started screaming, running, letting their belongings drop to the floor, knocking over chairs on their way out.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Niall hissed as he put his foot down from where it had been laying on the chair, reaching for his crutches with shaking hands, face pale. “Louis go. Come on I’m holding you up. Get out!”

Louis shook his head no, his heart beating rapidly against his chest, adrenaline rushing through his body.

“Are you nuts? I’m not leaving you behind!”, he yelled back before shoving Niall slightly, silently telling him to start moving as quick as possible.

He had no idea what exactly was going on, he could only hear people scream from outside the glass door, seeing them run down the stairs. Smoke was already in the air, making it harder to see and Louis knew that they’d need something to cover their faces with once they managed to make it to the door.

“Here, let me wrap this around your face,” Louis said quickly as he got out of his blazer, wrapping it around Niall’s nose, tying it with the sleeves on the back of his head.

On any other occasion he probably would’ve taken tons of pictures because Niall did look really funny right now but Louis knew this wasn’t the time to joke around. The Irish boy wasn’t able to hold anything in front of his face so wrapping his blazer around his friends’ face was the only thing he could do.

Louis then got out of his own shirt, pressing it close to his face. The videos from house fires bear such little resemblance for the real thing. The screen always showed a TV-Version, small and cold, black smoke billowing towards the sky. In reality it felt much different.

Once Louis and Niall had managed to reach the stairs they could feel the intense, radiant heat and instantly noticed how hard it was to breathe. People were still making their way down the stairs, not caring about others at all. Louis turned around to see if the flames were catching up with them. He kept the shirt pressed close to his face, the smoke getting even thicker, making it nearly impossible to see more than his own hand in front of his face.

Louis made his way down two or three stairs before turning around to see if Niall was following behind. The Irish boy was walking down slowly, nearly losing his balance. His face was a mask of pain because he simply didn’t have time to worry too much about hurting his knee so he put some pressure on it even though he wasn’t supposed to do so.

One more step. Two more steps.

Louis then turned around again to see if Niall was still following behind but his heart nearly stopped when he saw Niall missing the next step due to the smoke getting thicker. One of his crutches missed the next stair, making Niall lose his balance and slipping. Louis instantly reached out to catch his friend, holding onto the railing, gasping loudly when he felt his skin burn at the hot touch.

Niall had fallen down three stairs and was now lying at the bottom of the flight of stairs, coughing weakly.

“Louis,” he groaned, his knee hurting from where he had possibly twisted it as well as putting too much pressure on it in order to stop himself from falling down the stairs.

Niall felt like the world was suffocating him. His eye sight blurred and tears were welling up in his eyes. The smoke was burning in his lungs, making it harder to breath, the blazer barely a barrier between the air and himself. Panic started creeping up in Niall on full speed now. He knew that there was no way out for him. He was going to die right here but he couldn’t let Louis die because of him. The boy still had a chance to make it out of the building.

Niall used all his strength and gave his friend, who had fallen to his knees right next to him, a weak push, silently telling him to move on but like before Louis refused to listen.

“Forget it,” he hissed through gritted teeth as a fresh round of coughing attacked him.

Louis could literally feel the fire on his skin now coming closer and closer with every second that passed. The smoke was filling his lungs, making it hard to breath but Louis instincts kicked in again.

He witnessed Niall wither away from him, seeing his eyes roll ack into his head, his body going slack.

“No, no, Niall!” Louis yelled, shaking the boy by his shoulders without receiving an answer.

Where in gods name was the fire department? Shouldn’t fir fighters make their way through the smoke already, looking for injured people?

“Come on now,” Louis muttered as another round of coughing attacked him.

He slid one of his hands under Niall’s legs, the other one under his back and picked the bigger boy up bridal style. It took Louis all strength to not go down again once he was standing but the adrenaline rushing through his body and the hopelessness of the entire situation seemed to give him the strength to carry on.

Step by step, blinding and chocked by the thick smoke, they made it down another flight of stairs, reaching the fourth floor.

Upon having to carry Niall Louis didn’t have anything to press to his face, the smoke choking him more and more, black spots starting to blurry his vision.

Louis swayed on his feet as he took yet another step forward, Niall’s dead weight getting heavier and heavier within seconds but he wasn’t letting go. His eyesight blurred from the lack of oxygen, his lungs feeling like they had been ripped out, everything became fuzzy and then suddenly Louis saw nothing at all, his eyes rolling back into his head, his foot missing the next step.

He could feel his consciousness floating through an empty space, making it impossible to keep standing upright. Before Louis could do anything else he felt his body being drained away until everything turned black.

He didn’t wince when he and Niall crashed down the flight of stairs or when the smoke made it impossible to breathe any longer. He didn’t even flinch when somebody started shaking him or when something was placed over his face. His world stood black.

*

Liam was sitting in the fire truck with his colleagues completely unaware of the drama that was happening on Royal Plaza. He and his colleagues were on their way back to the station after a call, a horrible car crash on the MI5 that hadn’t only caused major traffic delays but also thirteen people injured and two dead.

Apparently some truck driver had fallen asleep for a second, his truck swerving into the wrong lane, crashing into another car. It had turned into a chain-reaction-collision the following cars unable to hit the brakes fast enough, people desperately trying to avoid the unavoidable accident.

Within second cars had crashed into each other.

After hours of helping getting people that had been stuck out of the cars and making sure that he highway was free again, Liam and his team were now back to the station when yet another call came through.

“Team I need you to go to Royal Plaza for backup. There is a building on fire and we need hands there,” their operator instructed and Liam felt his inside churn instantly.

Louis and Niall were both working on Royal Plaza.

“What do we know?” he questioned upon looking at his friend Zayn whose eyes were also wide with fear, his face pale.

“There is a fire in the office building. It’s spreading fast and people are trapped on the top floors. Something about evacuation gone wrong, an emergency exit not usable. Lots of people are hurt and there are still people inside of the building.”

“Louis and Niall are going to be okay,” Zayn said reassuringly to his friend, squeezing his bicep.

The drive to the Royal Plaza was the most anxious drive that Liam had ever been on. His mind kept going back to his boyfriend, worrying about whether Louis was okay, hurt or maybe even dead.

The boy wanted nothing more than to get his phone and check if Louis had called or texted him but just like every other day it was back in his locker at the station because they didn’t need their phones during a call anyway.

Even though the firefighters were all concentrating and mentally preparing for what they might witness, they still liked to act as normal as possible around each other, talking about their friends and families and having a laugh but Liam felt sick to his stomach, not even bothering to listen to what they had to say.

“Payne? Malik? What’s wrong guys? You’re awfully quiet,” one of their colleagues suddenly questioned as they blasted through London, their ears hurting from how loud the siren was wailing.

“His boyfriend and a friend of ours are working in this building that we’re going to,” Zayn explained and their entire crew suddenly took action.

“They are going o be okay. They’re for sure already outside of the building,” some of them said, reaching over to comfort both of their colleagues.

After that the entire atmosphere changed within the vehicle, everything even more into working mode now, knowing that some of their own were going through this hell of not knowing if their loved ones were alright.

It was part of their job to not let their personal feelings show. They were professionals, they couldn’t let their own emotions get in their way. Liam had learned that a long time ago. There had been this horrible house fire one day. Apparently the fire had started in the nursery, trapping the two babies inside of the room, their parents unable to get inside. Both of them had suffered horrible burns from trying to save their babies but when Liam and his team had arrived and had taken them outside the woman had clung to Liam, sobbing, begging him to save her babies.

Liam had comforted the woman the best he could, his own emotions getting the better of him. He had started crying right with the woman, promising her that everything was going to be okay. After a few more minutes they had managed to stop the fire but the babies had died inside of their nursery.

The woman and her husband had screamed for their babies, crying before breaking down and Liam had broken down not long after that, his boss then lecturing him about the risk of getting attached.

From that day on Liam had taught himself to only break down once the call was over.

The smoke was high in the sky, creating a smoke cloud that could be seen from miles away. Everything was chaos when they pulled up the building, Liam and Zayn feeling sick, getting out of the car as quick as possible.

The air smelt of burning acrid, chemical infused and choking. Liam’s eyes moved from face to face in the gathering crowd. A lot of people were crying, tears running down their cheeks while some others simply looked shocked, their eyes locked on the flames shooting up on the building.

The flame burned with colors Liam had seen many times before but not once had he been paralyzed by fear, not knowing if his boyfriend was still inside or not. He could make out silhouettes of people standing at the window on the eight floor, knowing that they were trapped inside. He felt sick to his stomach imagining Louis being one of the people being trapped up there.

Even from all the way across the street it looked like a bonefire and Liam could almost imagine his boyfriend throwing some potatoes wrapped in tin foil into the flames. But this was no celebration. The was reality.

“Okay guys we need to work. You help your colleagues with the flames,” the leader of their squad said before turning over and pointing at four people who quickly rushed off.

“You go in an help the rescue team,” their boss then said and everyone nodded and quickly went to work knowing that every single second was important because people were counting on them.

Before Liam and Zayn even had a chance to move their boss walked over to them looking concerned.

“You guys stay out here. I know that your head is not in the game right now and I don’t want to deal with any mistakes right now. You stay here and look for your loved ones!”

Zayn wanted to argue, desperately wanting to help but hearing Liam sob right next to him made him realize that their boss was probably right.

Liam wasn’t able to hold it together any longer and so he didn’t stop the tears that threatened to spill over. Zayn was quick to pull the other boy into a hug, looking around just as frantic as Liam, hoping to see Louis or Niall along the people that were being treated already but no such luck.

They both continued to stand there for what felt like an eternity, eyes fixed on the entrance to the building, waiting for their colleagues to emerge from the building with Niall and Louis.

“LOUIS!” Liam suddenly yelled as he spotted one of his colleagues running out of the building, holding someone in his arms and Liam knew right from where he was standing that this was his boyfriend.

Seconds later Niall was being carried out as well and Liam and Zayn wasted no time running over to where their colleagues had put them down in the grass, paramedics taking over immediately.

Liam’s heart nearly stopped when he saw his boyfriend. Louis apparently wasn’t breathing since medics were already on him, giving him CPR and Liam suddenly felt sick to his stomach, his knees buckling. He probably would’ve fallen down if it hadn’t been for Zayn, pulling him close, wrapping his arms around Liam’s waist, steadying him.

“Don’t watch this! They are both going to be okay,” Zayn whispered into his friend’s ear, placing a soft kiss on the top of Liam’s head.

To be honest Zayn had never felt worse about saying something like that because he wasn’t sure if he had been telling the truth or not.

Louis’ face was black from smoke, a bleeding gash on his forehead matting his hairline with red crimson. His lips were parted and blue, showing the lack of oxygen.

His clothes were dirty and ripped in some places, his skin red from where the flames had come too close to him. There was a wound on his hand, most likely from when he had touched the railing of the stairs or a door handle, something that transported the heat.

Louis’ leg was twisted in a wrong way, obviously broken.

Niall didn’t look much better. The blonde boy was lying on the grass just as lifeless as Louis, limp like a rag doll.

His face was dirty, his lips bleeding a little bit and Zayn knew that biting his lips was a nervous habit of Niall.

Niall’s arm looked different and Zayn then realized that his shoulder had to be dislocated. His breathing sounded labored and painful, his lungs rattling. The knee that was already in a brace looked painfully swollen.

“Payne is that your boy?” Jeff, their team leader questioned as he jogged over to both Zayn and Liam upon seeing their distraught faces.

“Yes Sir,” Zayn answered while Liam only sobbed harder watching the medics work on his lover and his friend. “It’s his boyfriend and another friend of ours.”

“Alright,” Jeff replied and nodded his head. “Since you’re in no condition to focus on anything today I want you to go home. Stay with your loved ones, both of you!”

“Thank you,” Liam choked out while Jeff only nodded his head, patted their backs and wished them the best.

“We’re going to transport them now,” one of the paramedics explained after a few more minutes while both Niall and Louis were placed on stretchers.

“Did you save him?” Liam whispered brokenly.

“He’s breathing again but they need help badly.”

Both Louis and Niall had masks placed over their mouth and nose giving them oxygen, IV’s were providing their bodies with much needed fluids. Their wounds had been treated tentative, a big bandage wrapped around Louis’ head, his leg had been stabilized by a splint, keeping it in place.

“Can we go with you?”

“I’m afraid not,” the woman shook her head no, “We need a lot of space. I suggest that you guys go back to your station, get cleaned up and come to St. Thomas hospital later on since this is going to take some time anyway.”

*

Liam and Zayn arrived at the hospital exactly 90 minutes later. They had gone back to the station, taken a shower and changed into their own clothes before literally running out of the building and jumping into Liam’s car.

Both Zayn and Liam had had many missed calls from Harry already and so Liam had texted him to meet them at the hospital.

Harry was already sitting in the waiting area, eyebrows furrowed together, wedging his thumb nail between his teeth.

Once he spotted his friends he quickly walked over to them, pulling each boy into a hug.

“What happened? It’s all over the news.”

“Their building caught fire. They found Liam and Niall on the stairs on their way down. It was chaos there,” Zayn explained before looking around the room.

He then realized how busy the room actually way. People were pacing back and forth, some others were on their phones, others were crying. There was barely an empty seat and everyone looked just as hopeless as the boys felt right now. Most of the people probably didn’t even now if their loved ones were actually alive.

“I’ll talk to the nurse,” Liam mumbled before walking over to her desk.

“How bad?” Harry questioned once Liam couldn’t hear them.

“Niall looked bad but Louis was worse. They had trouble stabilizing their breathing, Louis having stopped completely. I bet my ass that Niall’s knee needs fixing again. Louis’ leg looked broken as well. They both had some burns but I guess the flames didn’t really reach them. They probably passed out due to smoke inhalation and probably crashed down some stairs.”

“They are strong, they’ll be okay,” Harry tried to reassure his friend.

“They are both being treated right now. A doctor will keep us updated. I told them that Louis and I and Niall and Harry are engaged because otherwise the wouldn’t have told me anything since we’re not related,” Liam explained as he walked back over to them.

*

It took exactly one hour and 54 minutes until yet another doctor walked into the room.

Everyone’s head shot up, looking at the max expectantly, hoping to hear the name of their loved ones being called.

“Families of Mr. Tomlinson and Mr. Horan?”

All three boys shot out of their chairs, crossing the waiting area until they stood in front of a middle-aged doctor whose expression was worrisome. He definitely looked tired.

“We’re their finances,” Harry explained, pointed at himself and Liam, “and this is our close friend Zayn who can be informed about anything as well.”

“Follow me then, gentlemen!”

Only a few moments later they walked into a small office sitting down in front of the desk, looking at the doctor expectantly.

“I’d like to inform you that both men are alive and are being transferred to a room as we speak.”

All three boys let out a sigh of relief, feeling a lot better than just seconds ago.

“Mr. Tomlinson suffered from two degree burns on his hands. He has a broken leg and two of his ribs are cracked and he has a mild concussion. Since he must’ve inhaled a lot of smoke we put him into a coma. We intubated him to help his lungs heal faster.”

Panic started creeping up in Liam again upon hearing what the doctor had just told him about his boyfriends health. He knew that Louis was alive and that was the most important thing but he also knew that it was going to be a long and hard road of recovery.

“Mr. Horan is in a coma as well. He has a dislocated shoulder and we had to repair some damage in his knee. He has to wear the brace for eight weeks minimum now and he’ll need to use a wheelchair since he won’t be able to use crutches with his shoulder but both boys should be okay. If everything works out like we’re hoping to put them off the ventilator in about three days but even after that it’ll take a long time for their lungs to fully heal.”

“Thank you so much,” Harry said, voice sounding as he was about to keep the tears at bay.

“They’re being monitored in the ICU It’s on the third floor. A nurse will lead you to their rooms.”

*

It was eerily quiet in the ward and Liam winced every time his shoes scuffed on the linoleum. Most of the people lying in this part of the hospital were dying and it made him shudder. He stopped abruptly when the nurse in front of him halted.

“He’s in here,” she said with a sweet voice, pointing at the door before looking at Zayn and Harry. “You’re friend is in the room right over there!”

Not wasting any time and promising the others that he’d come over to check on Niall in a few minutes Liam opened the door and had to fight the urge to close it straight away and run.

Louis was as white as the sheets below him, but his face was flushed red, probably from the heat. His hair was matted to his head by sweat, a small bandage wrapped around it. There was a white cast on his leg and he was hooked up to numerous monitors, all beeping that Louis was alive, for now. He was hooked up to two IV’s, both providing the fluids that would save him hopefully. The tube snaking out of his boyfriend’s mouth was definitely the most horrible thing that Liam had witnessed. He knew that it was there to help Louis breathe but it looked so scary.

Liam slowly moved closer to his boyfriend. He wiped the sweaty bangs off of Louis’ forehead, smirking a little at the length. Without any hair products Louis’ hair was quite long. Pulling up a chair beside Louis’ bed, Liam sat down and reached out to take Louis’ hand into his own. He rubbed his thumb comfortingly back and forth across the top of it.

“I love you so much, Louis. You have to fight for me, okay? Niall is alive as well and we all just need you boys to wake up. You won’t be alone and we’re all going to help you recover!”

Liam sighed as Louis showed no outward appearance of having heard anything he had said.

Zayn walked into the room minutes later, his eyes watering as he saw his friend lying there just as lifeless as Niall.

“Harry is staying with Niall right now so he’s not alone. I guess I’m going to call Maura and Johannah.”

Liam’s eyes widened upon realizing that he hadn’t even thought about calling his future-mother-in-law but knowing that he wouldn’t be able to explain everything to the woman he nodded his head, thankful for Zayn doing this.

*

Two days had passed since the tragic fire at their work place and Liam had barely left his boyfriends side. Johannah had come to London and had visited her son, breaking down after seeing him like that and it had been Liam who had promised her to look after Louis. Liam had seen the struggle when Johannah had had to leave, having six young children at home, the youngest only one and a half years old. Her husband Dan apparently was somewhere on a business trip and even though her oldest daughter Lottie was eighteen years old she didn’t want to leave her alone with the kids for too long and so Liam had promised to call her when something happened.

Niall now had his mother by his side, the poor woman probably just as exhausted as the rest of them. They had all barely slept. Liam had taken some time off from work, his boss well aware of the situation. He had been completely understanding, telling Liam not to worry about anything. Zayn had gone back to work only to rush back to the hospital during the night, taking turns in staying with them with the others.

Harry, who was working as a publisher for a newspaper, had decided to work from the hospital. He had to read through some articles and he could definitely do this right here as well.

It was Wednesday afternoon and Liam was sitting right next to his boyfriends’ bed once again, holding his hand. He had been lost in his thoughts when he heard the first signs of his lover waking. He heard a slight gagging and the beeping of the monitors sped up. Louis started clenching his fist and shaking his head from sight to sight, groaning. Liam quickly grabbed Louis’ chin and forced him to face his direction.

Louis blinked sleepily a few times and then his eyes opened wide in a panicked stare. Liam could hear him gagging on the tube and he started rubbing circles on his lovers chest.

“Louis, don’t fight it! You’re fine. Let it breathe for you. Come on Louis, in and out. In and out. I’m here, you’re okay!”

They continued this way for a few more moments until Louis eyes sparked recognition and his muscles relaxed under Liam’s touch. The boy could easily tell that his lover was confused and scared and so he pressed the button the call the nurse who came running into the room just moments later.

Upon seeing Louis awake she walked over, telling Liam to wait outside.

*

“Hey, Niall has been moved to a normal room today,” Harry announced once he walked into Louis’ hospital room, smiling lightly when he saw that the tube had been removed as well.

“Can we go see him?”

“Zayn is waiting outside. Maura is at the hotel but she’s going to be back in a little while,” Harry explained and Liam placed a quick kiss on Louis’ head.

Now with Louis being able to breathe on his own again Liam felt happier than he had in a few days. Maybe things were going to be alright.

“Bo’ys?” Niall questioned with a pain filled voice when the door to his room opened and someone walked in. Everything was still a little bit fuzzy.

“Yes, it’s us,” Zayn replied as they walked closer to the bed.

Harry palmed Niall’s cheek feeling the young boy lean into the comfort.

“Lo..Louis?” Niall slurred as he struggled to keep his eyes open.

“He’s going to be okay. Just like you!”

Niall’s eyes were falling shut but a smile appeared on his face upon hearing those words.

“Saved me life,” he whispered before sleep took over him, his head rolling to the side.

*

The truth came out three days later when both Niall and Louis were sitting in their hospital beds. Louis had been moved into Niall’s room just a few hours after the Irish boy and they had gotten more sleep, resting up nicely.

They were both still in pain, IV’s providing them with fluids and both had to wear nasal cannulas to help them with oxygen but they were both going to be okay.

Niall and Louis had told them what had happened at this horrific day and all of them had started crying, goosebumps running up their bodies as they had listened to Niall’s explanation.

Everyone, including Niall, had thanked Louis for what he had done but the boy had just brushed them off, saying that they all would’ve done the same for each other because they were best friends after all.

The boys also decided that they were all going to move into Liam’s and Louis’ house since it was the biggest one. Niall needed help with the easiest tasks since he was stuck in a wheelchair and Louis needed to recover as well and so they had decided that Harry was going to work from home so he could keep an eye out on Louis and Niall, take them to therapy and help them move around the house.

This night when the boys left the hospital, Liam placed a soft kiss on Louis’ lips before whispering into his ear.

“I can’t wait for you to be home in a few days. I’m so proud of you and I love you with all my heart! Now get some sleep!”

Louis knew in that exact moment that they were all going to be okay as long as they had each other.

 

 

 

 


End file.
